Frameworks – ‘Smother’

It has to be said that Deathwish Inc. always has an eye for some of the best aggressive music. They serve as a launch pad for some of the brightest talent, and many of their bands go on to much bigger things. Just take a look at Deafheaven, Touche Amore, and Code Orange for the proof. With the departure of some of these bands from the label, they are now pushing Frameworks, a band who have been around for some years, but are deserving of a wider reach.

Their previous album, ‘Loom’, harboured some great moments, yet on the whole, was a little disjointed. When you listen back to it in the shadow of their latest offering, ‘Smother’, you can hear they were a band finding their sound, because now they are entirely different beast altogether. Recorded with Matt McClellan, the power of Frameworks has truly been harnessed on ‘Smother.’ At times it is unrelenting and dissonant, yet has moments of delicate beauty underneath the blistering surface, particularly on the albums title track, and one of the stand out moments, ‘Purge.’

While likely to draw comparison to their contemporaries such as The Saddest Landscape, early Pianos Become The Teeth, and the aforementioned Touche Amore, as well as classic “screamo” icons Funeral Diner and City Of Caterpillar, Frameworks find a way to stand out. The melodic hardcore of ‘Song Of Myself’ showcases vocalist Luke Plate at his most visceral; shredding his voice to within an inch of its life with every given chance. It decays into a monolithic post-metal passage at its cadence, bleeding effortlessly into the searing ‘Tinnitus’, which does the opposite of its predecessor and is gradually lifted up with bright, major-key guitar lines.

As with any album that blends such a variety of styles, you would be forgiven if you thought ‘Smother’ was in danger of sounding too mismatched for its own good. Thankfully that doesn’t happen here, and Frameworks have kept it very cohesive throughout. Even by dropping in a serene and sullen interlude, which gives way to the lurching, bass-heavy blitz of ‘Trite’, the album ebbs and flows perfectly. The driving beats of ‘Tangled’ finds Frameworks at their most melodic yet, which is at time glorious in its delivery, before the near six-minute closing track, ‘The New Narcissistic American Dream’, finds the band firing on all cylinders until it fades out in a hail of noise.

There is no denying that Frameworks had a vision in mind for ‘Smother’, and it is a very concise record that will surely one day be regarded as a classic of its genre. Call it melodic hardcore, post-hardcore, or if you can use the word “skramz” without making your toes curl, then so be it. Regardless of how it can be categorised, Frameworks have found the often looked for ground between beauty and aggression to create a near-flawless record.

GLEN BUSHELL